Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-07-22
rTLEBORO, FRIDAY, JULY %, 1887.

The scenery about this town is very strik-
ing as well as pleasing great cliffs sur
round brund and pleasant pastures, the vii
lage has a good church and plaza, some nice
stone houses, and a charming little fort
| perched upon great rock with perpendic-
| ular sides
The district abounds in silver mines, there
being scarcely IA householder there that does
not own one which he works just enough 10
supply the necessaries of life, aud no more,
no matter how rich the veins
We were much troubled TO find a place
to sleep in and something to eat as the ct,ra
and the jefe poiuico, to whom we had let
ters were both away. Having ridden sew
en- leagues in the morning upon only cup
OF coffee, and seven in the afternoon, after
a slight lunch, we were much fatigued and
very hungry Fortunately we encoun-
| tered widow who kept shop-a fieHdd-
and we ultimately Jared very well, having
n hearty supper and sleeping upon some
! wooden benches with straw mats spread
over them.
The naturalist was ill., and the widow, in
her sympathy for RI pobrccHo- the poor lit
| tie felluw-prescribed and administered
such remedies as cured the stranger and
filed him with gratitude 1t may not per
haps he looked upon as a breach Of conf
]
from collie, and that the widow advised
him 10 make an external application over
the seat of pain, Of cloth wet in agt,drdi.
ente. As the naturalist did not readily un-
derstand her (his Spanish being a sort ca
silly learned, but soon forgotten the fuir Sa-
! marltan impatiently motioned him to extend
| himself upon his back on the bench. when
! she herself applied the ruu-soaked cloth,
| with hands gentle us "a mothers while her
iace beamed with mercy and goodwill
| Tins good and generous woman was named
SOicidd the Solitary and as she was hard
! ly 30, and fair withal. We trust-if such be
her desre-that she be solitary no longer.
but that she may now have u partner wor-
thy her many virtues There stares at me.
! from my four year-Old note book as / now
write, the autograph Of the fair seilora
| hutd, prrO sHtccrd amiga, Soiciud de Ifr-
| mostly Improbable but sincere friend '
| Repruachfully, as reminding me Of for
| gotten promise, an appended line also looks
/ at me RecO,ddrSe de mdHdtrid fOiugruIius
De 4. y. Y. C.. ; request for our photo
/ graphs tu be sent on our return to the
| United States
As we left lxtlan, very late in the fore
noon, delayed by an unfulhlled promise of
the Jcte to furnish us with guide, the wild
| Ow poured into our ears fresh stories Of the
hostility to strangers Of the people of NO-
/ los and Malnaltepec, who had sworn eter-
| nal enmlty to miners and silver seekers
saying they destroyed their property and
ruined their rivers Tradition has handed
| down to them that all the trouble, Of their
race arose from disclosing their gold 10
strangers. But while We mentally acuui-
esced in the wisdom of these people in
adopting this course, aud thanked the
| bright-eyed riadU for her cautions. still.
We headed our horses towards the unex-
| plored country, and laughingly rode away.
Reyond this point, horses were not half
/ plentiful enough, and as for h-indDs-there
was not n shop in all the hills Our chief
was afflicted with a thirst for native drinks.
| if there was no puiqte he would take Uicm-
| riH0, or ounce wine, which the natives
make from the fruit Of their own trees
| failing that, nsSc1i-the Mexican fire water
but he had long since found that tcguiiiu.
a smooth but fiery liquid, tasting something
/ like potato whisky, was his staple beverage.
| His constant cry, which plaiutively walled
! ont as we approached every native hut
was "Hdy teV,Wdi Have you any ie-
quH1 ?" He was always ahead, ut such
times. and we Of the rear guard. could tell
TO n certainty what the answer was by his
department. II it was-as it was. full of
ten, "No hay, Scior, he would ride ON in
limp attitude, and perhaps with a spite
full kick at his beast, enquiring of surround
ing objects, animate and inanimate, why
in-bla2es-was such God -forsaken coun-
try allowed To exist =
But if the CHEEKY answer came, "Si. Se-
nor, hag" he would instantly straighten
himself in the saddle, then one leg over the
the punmel and turn around and beckon
10 us Solemny With his forcfinger, after the
manner Of one who had made great dis
covery When the landscape put ON at
tractive tnts, the hut at which we stopped
was delightful place Of residence, and
the brown-skinned Indian woman who duled
out the fsguUiu, "A Mexican Hebe, whom it
was pleasure for thirsty travellers TO meet
The crests and ridges Of these hills were
drowned with forests Of oak and pine, and
their sides covered with gardens We zig
zaged up and down. crossing tnklng
streams with butterflies lowering over
them and Indian children playing in them,
ever climbing and descending, until we
reached IA great wooden cross set up in a
gap and looked down upon the village Of
Analco, just as terrific thunder storm
broke over us, and the trail down the steep
was a rushing brook, down the bed Of
which We picked our way carefully.
There we first made acquaintance with
the CdSd Hcdi. or Kings House" called
also the CdbiidO. a house erected for the
free lodgment of all travellers in all towns
unprovlded with hotel The Cdbiiio ex-
its IN accordance with ancient law, which
also provided that the dicdhic the chief
man of the village, whose emblem Of Office
Is long, silver mounted stick, and his 10
piles, who bear wands a little palmer, shall
alone purchase provisions for the traveller
it may he owing 10 the fact that the aicdlle
was absent that we Jared so hard, being
unable 10 buy anything at all. The doors
of this CdbitiO were wide open. and we
marched in and took possession, though no
one bade us enter
The bell-tower of the church is on a near
mound and commands grand view of the
opposite side of "A vast amphitheater of hills
which enclosed two villages and is cultivat-
ed in immense fields of corn from the river
bottom clear to the crests, where great
trees stand up against the sky. Riding
three leagues farther, over informal trails
but through most beautiful woods of pine
and deciduous trees, we found a solitary
hill-faTm called OcOie or Pine Ranch where
we had hoped 10 find rest also; but seeing
that only the mud floor Of miserable hut
matched with grass and with walls of poles
between which we could look in any direc-
tion, was available, we fastened on to La
vina, a settlement two miles farther down
"A tremendous cdHddd and across a foaming
river. Hidden in vast corn-feld was the
village, but there was no shelter open TO
us except an empty hut Of mud and thatch
Two large houses that we had seen from a
distance, and which looked inviting, We're
found to be the one Jail and the other a
church, and both alike mhosptable. Some
a gaf oil,
pairing some soup and toasting some dried
beef ON an oX-gOad, which occupation held
them two hours and it was not until we
had taken turns several times around in
growing at the cooks that we finally had
the satisfaction of seeing the food spread
out ON the clay floor. Meanwhile we were
much exercised by drunken Indian, clad
in cotton drawers and Sdrdpe, who claimed
to he secretary of the municipality, and in
sisted upon our showing our passports, de
claring stoutly that all strangers must have
written permission to pass through the
Sierras. This relic of revolutionary times
had been long abolished, but this illiterate
had not heard of it, and becoming wrath
full and turbulent, he was beguiled by our
chief into the coTnfield where he was trip
ped up and laid upon the ground, and fell
at once into quiet slumber Other Indians,
now gathering in numbers, were rude and
of Independent bearing and each one car
red either a gun or a sabre but after we
had spread straw upon the ground and es-
sayed to sheep, it was very quiet all through
the night, only dog barked and horse
broke into the corn, and we had no use for
the revolvers, which lay thickly around
us-unless it might have been To shoot the
flies and chickens, which were both numer-
GUS and terrible.
CHATTER lV.-AN UNEXPECTED AND UNDEsI-
RABLE ACQUAINTANCE.
In the delicious GOODNESS Of the following
morning wa cli,uba1 tba h;Us to AT,,,,lt